A successful company rarely changes its CEO, but countries are not companies. Bill Clinton will step down as President of the United States in January, as required by the Constitution. You can love him or hate him, credit him with the current economic climate or not, but the fact remains that the U.S. economy has boomed through the eight years of the Clinton Administration. Entrepreneurs have been able to launch companies and succeed in this environment to a dazzling degree. So who can keep this party rolling?

That's the question on the minds of entrepreneurs as they judge the two leading candidates to replace President Clinton. Fortunately, Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush seem to understand the special needs of entrepreneurs. "Both Bush and Gore are sympathetic to the entrepreneurial spirit in America," says Bennie L. Thayer, president and CEO of the National Association for the Self-Employed.

Part of that understanding may come from their backgrounds. Gore worked on his family's farm as a child and teenager, and then bought his own farm in Carthage, Tennessee, with wife Tipper in 1973. (It's fair to note, however, that he is more the gentleman farmer, having worked as a newspaper reporter and politician since leaving the Army.) Bush worked in the oil business for 11 years starting in 1976 and then was the managing general partner of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers (not exactly your typical start-up).

Freelance writer Chris Sandlund is a former editor of Success and Home Office Computing magazines. He worked as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate covering tax, trade and banking issues from 1985 to 1987.

The Two Opposing Candidates

But business experience isn't all these guys are about. They're politicians, so judge them by their political records.

Gore spent 16 years in the House of Representatives and the Senate. His ratings by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent Business were never very high. He voted with the Chamber an average of 30.4 percent and with NFIB an average of 32.1 percent during his congressional terms. Still, he supported such small-business efforts as 1992's Small Business Research and Development Enhancement Act while in Congress.

Gore's campaign, unsurprisingly, is running hard on the economic success of the Clinton-Gore years, and Gore cites the expansion of the SBA loan program to $14 billion in guarantees in the budget for the 2000 fiscal year. At the same time, he reiterates the economic policy pursued by the administration from 1993 forward: Reduce the budget deficit to lower the federal government's impact on financial markets so more money is available for investment. It's worth noting that credit availability topped many lists of entrepreneurs' concerns four and eight years ago. Today, it's rarely mentioned.

Meanwhile, Bush has been busy improving the Texas business climate. He has cut taxes and approved tort reform that has lowered entrepreneurs' insurance costs. "[Bush and Texas legislators] eliminated 170,000 small businesses from having to file franchise tax returns," notes David Pinkus, president of Small Business United of Texas.

Pinkus notes the fact that Bush tends to treat small and large businesses even-handedly. In other words, entrepreneurs will get a fair shake but shouldn't expect special treatment in a Bush administration. As governor, he opposed legislation that would have create a small-business advocate because he worried it would increase the overall size of state government.

But politicians' past efforts only partially sway voters. Elections are about the future. This guide seeks to sort through candidates' claims and counter-claims about the five issues that most reflect entrepreneurial concerns, according to several sources, including a March 2000 poll conducted by TNS Intersearch of 1,122 entrepreneurs for American Express Small Business Services (for more information, see "It Matters To Us").

Those results are combined with opinions from Washington, DC, small-business lobbying organizations: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Small Business United (NSBU), National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), National Federation of Independent Business, and Small Business Survival Committee.

Entrepreneurs, however, tend to make up their own minds. To help you do just that, each candidate's proposed policies for some of the most pressing concerns follow:

Issue 1: Finding Qualified Workers

If finding capital was one of the biggest issues for entrepreneurs in the past two presidential elections, finding qualified labor is the most pressing concern today. "It's the work-force issues that are at the top," says NSBU president Todd McCracken. "That's not only true of the American Express survey; it's true of every other survey I've seen."

One of the most generally accepted problems: Young people aren't coming out of school qualified to work. Both Bush and Gore favor establishing higher standards and charter schools and ex-panding savings accounts to help pay for education. However, Bush leaves the decision-making at state and local levels. Gore favors more federal funding, especially to pay for school construction and classroom computers.

With far more relevance to current employees, the vice president wants to make learning (hence, worker training) a lifelong process. He proposes a 401(j) savings plan that would be similar to the 401(k) retirement plan. The new program would fund kids in college or parents adding skills for current jobs. Better still, employers could contribute to the tax-exempt accounts. Bush wants to increase deductions for education savings account from $500 to $5,000, but makes no mention of employer contributions.

Bush also sees a second way to increase the number of qualified workers: Increase the labor pool. He offers two plans to do so: Eliminate the Social Security earnings test that limits seniors from re-entering the workforce, and increase the number of H-1B visas (currently 115,000) to allow more trained foreign workers into the country. Gore supports increasing the number of such foreign workers to more than 200,000.

What's your beef? "Loud And Clear" shows you how to complain your way up to Washington.

Issue 2: Making Health Insurance Affordable

Gore took the early lead in health care one year ago, when he proposed that small businesses be allowed to group across state lines to purchase health insurance as health-care purchasing coalitions. "Pooling is something that has worked well at a state level," says Bill Miller, political director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Gore wants to provide a 25 percent tax credit for the cost of each employee that a small business covers after joining such a plan. The associations promoted by Gore, however, are not the Association Health Plans (AHPs) advocated by some small-business advocacy groups. Gore feels that, because AHPs would be exempt from state regulations, these plans would not carry as many options as traditional insurance offerings.

Bush supports the AHP concept and adopted it into his health-care proposal in April. Bush also wants to make medical savings accounts (currently a trial program) permanent and allow employers to contribute to employees' accounts.

Currently, the law limits the deductibility of long-term health care for the self-employed (60 percent until 2001, 70 percent until 2003, 100 percent after 2003). Long-term health policies have a sliding scale for the maximum amount that, like other health-care insurance, is 60 percent deductible this year. At press time, only Bush favors changing current law to let business owners deduct all of their health insurance immediately, as opposed to waiting until 2003. Gore is heavily in favor of creating a $3,000 credit for long-term care.

Issue 3: Cutting Taxes

Bush has made tax cuts the centerpiece of his campaign. He wants to cut the top-marginal personal tax rate to 33 percent from 39.6 percent. His rationale: Encourage entrepreneurship. He also is in support of a permanent research-and-development tax credit and continuing the moratorium on sales taxes for Internet purchases through at least 2006.

According to the small-business lobby, support for reforming or eliminating the estate tax is more important. "Even if you do get the insurance and hire the lawyers [to make a plan for the tax], that's a huge amount of money that could have been invested in the business," says McCracken. Bush supports repeal of the tax. At press time, Gore has come out in favor of raising the family exemption for small businesses. He says that will allow 70 percent of small businesses to pass from one generation to the next without incurring any payment of the tax. At the time that this article went to press, the real nuts and bolts of Gore's plan were still rather sketchy and unclear.

The Gore campaign is primarily playing up tax cuts made during the Clinton administation for entrepreneurial businesses but, in terms of any cuts that Gore has came out in support of for the near future, he has only proposed substantially relief of the estate tax, as well as New Markets and Empowerment Zone credits, research and experimentation tax credits and, lastly, making the R&D tax credit permanent-setting in stone an already existing tax break.

Issue 4: Reducing Government Regulations

Eliminating red tape is a major campaign issue for entrepreneurs. "We're in a good economy right now," says Small Business Survival Committee president Christopher Wysocki. "Small businesses are working hard to succeed. They want to be left alone."

Gore helped make reducing regulations the centerpiece of the Clinton campaigns, and he's won plaudits for his efforts. "That's an area where we'd give him a strong plus," says NASE's Thayer. The vice president's campaign touts such efforts as the signing of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. Without many specifics, he promises more of the same.

It's fair to note, as NSBU's McCracken does, that regulatory relief under the Clinton administration has come mainly from the enforcement side. The policy side of most agencies, however, remains active.

Bush has one clear regulatory policy on his agenda: a federal version of Texas' Sunset Review Board. This state oversight panel reviews each government program once per decade to see if it still has a job to do and whether it's doing that job effectively.

Getting all riled up about politics? Read about Jesse Ventura, someone that really gets down and dirty, in "Wrestling With Reform."

Issue 5: Reforming Social Security

After years of being the third rail of American politics, Social Security is now finally up for serious discussion. Entrepreneurs, who pay half their employees' payroll taxes, recognize this as an opportunity to address the need for improved retirement policies for small firms.

"Most of our membership did not have more than $50,000 saved for their retirement," says Thayer. "That's indicative of most entrepreneurs." An improved Social Security system could provide the retirement that owners want for themselves and their employees.

Bush kicked off the debate by not accepting common wisdom to leave it alone. He recognizes that the government needs to guarantee existing benefits for current recipients and those "near retirement," and also plans to put Social Security surpluses into the trust fund to ensure its future solvency.

However, Bush also wants to allow individual workers to tap their payroll taxes for use in private investment accounts. He wants workers to get the greater long-run returns available from stocks and bonds, rather than the measly 2 percent return currently paid by Social Security. Would that mean workers would have to trade reduced benefits from the Social Security Trust Fund for the right to invest? Bush had not filled in the details by press time.

Gore wants to keep the existing Social Security system pretty much as it is-except with increased benefits for widows, widowers and mothers who've spent years raising kids. Gore's proposal would dedicate the Social Security surplus to reducing the national debt and creating interest savings to be applied to the Social Security trust fund, keeping the program fiscally sound through at least 2050. The vice president recognizes the need for additional savings, however. In June, he proposed Social Security Plus--a voluntary retirement system to supplement existing Social Security. It does not reduce or redirect payroll taxes.

But this position, and any other, is subject to change as Gore and Bush tack between competing interests in their race for the presidency. Plan on turning to the Internet for the latest updates. (See "Parties Online" below.) Read the fine print, because entrepreneurs tend to get lots of praise but few concrete policy proposals.

Whether Republican or Democrat, voting for a president goes beyond party lines when you take into account whose policies will help your business grow and succeed. Take a close look at the candidates--you may be surprised at whose ideas you favor.

In 1996, the presidential campaigns finally started tapping the power of the Internet to get their messages out. In 2000, both Democratic and Republican campaigns have developed extensive Web sites to put out their policies . . . and hype. The best way to keep abreast of breaking developments is to read the politicians' speeches rather than rely on the broadcast networks' interpretations. Better still, the "Find" feature on most Web browsers lets you skip to the heart of the matter by searching for the first reference of "small business" or "entrepreneur" in a lengthy spiel.

Though the spin-meisters don't exist on television alone, the following sites can help you gather more information to make an educated choice:

NS Intersearch polled 1,122 entrepreneurs in March for American Express Small Business Services to find out what was on the minds of entrepreneurs heading into the presidential election. As this story goes to print, it remains the most comprehensive independent snapshot of entrepreneurial concerns. The 10 most important issues are:

Interview With Gore Part 1

Entrepreneur:Mr. Vice
President, your campaign material consistently touts the results of
economic growth under the Clinton administration as reason that
small businesses should support your candidacy. However, voters
will also cast their votes based on how they view the future. What
issues do you view as key impediments to small-business growth in
the near future? What specific policies do you propose that the
country pursue to address these concerns?

Al Gore: Since the
Clinton-Gore administration took office in 1993, this nation has
enjoyed unprecedented prosperity. We fought hard to maintain fiscal
discipline and invested in our people. Together with Americans'
hard work, those policies have helped to create over 21 million new
jobs, along with historically low unemployment, inflation and
interest rates.

I know small businesses and entrepreneurs have been the real
motors of our economy. Small businesses and entrepreneurs are
responsible for an estimated one-third of America's historic
economic growth. Also, small businesses (those with fewer than 500
employees) currently employ 53 percent of the private workforce and
account for 47 percent of sales and 51 percent of private sector
GDP. You've had a real partner in the Clinton-Gore
Administration. The Administration has worked with the Small
Business Administration to guarantee $59 billion in loans to small
businesses, more than the previous 12 years combined. And the
results are telling. Under the Clinton-Gore administration,
small-business incomes have increased by 14.2 percent, vs. falling
by 1 percent during the Bush administration.

But we can do more to give small business the kind of sustained
attention necessary to ensure continued growth. As president, I
will work harder than ever to strengthen and create new
opportunities for entrepreneurship. To help small businesses
prosper, my strategy will focus on helping small businesses gain
access to capital and technical assistance and creating unlimited
possibilities for small-business success, while continuing to
streamline the regulatory process.

To begin, I believe that the right policies can help open more
doors for small businesses. I want to facilitate the use of the
Specialized Small Business Investment Company Tax Credit and double
the New Markets Tax Credit to help small businessmen and women gain
access to needed capital. I think it is smart policy to help small
business obtain secure domestic loans. I plan to make sure that the
SBA guarantees up to 80 percent of a loan made by a lender to
creditworthy small businesses that cannot otherwise secure
financing on reasonable terms. I also intend to continue opening
new markets for small-business exporters. We can do that through
granting more international trade loans and bolstering the
SBA's Export Working Capital Program. Further, I want to ensure
small businesses are not left behind due to momentary capital flow
difficulty. Through the SBA's Y2K Action Loans and DELTA loans,
we can alleviate these temporary burdens.

We can also continue to provide tax cuts and other financial
incentives to encourage the development of small businesses in
traditionally disadvantaged areas. Efforts such as Empowerment
Zones and the New Markets Initiative are working, and I will fight
to expand and implement funding for them. And I want to explore new
strategies to help these risk-takers to connect into their larger
local and regional economies.

I also want to help keep small businesses on the cutting edge of
high technology. As president, I will work to grant more Technology
Transfer awards and expand the Innovation Research Program for
high-tech small-business research and development. We also need to
assist small business in transferring over to technology-based
operations. That is why I will continue to support the SBA's
Community Express program, directing loans, technical and
management assistance to businesses in New Markets areas.

We can also help by creating more opportunity for small
businesses, starting by bringing together every sector of the
business community, large and small. I want to expand the
innovative BusinessLINC, which allows entrepreneurs and small
businesses to better work with larger businesses to expand
investment. I also intend to offer small businesses more bid
opportunities for federal government contracts.

We have made great strides through the SBA's HUB
Zone-Empowerment Contracting Program, and as president, I will
ensure that we strengthen it. I want to give more managerial aid
and other assistance to new small businesses by greatly upgrading
Microenterprise Lending and Technical Assistance and the SBA's
Business Development Centers, One-Stop Shops and Individual
Development Accounts.

Small businesses also need a regulatory environment that does
not create undue compliance burdens, while protecting consumers,
workers and [the] environment. Over the last eight years, we have
made good progress and worker related injuries are at an all time
low. As president, I will build on recent successes and direct OSHA
to continue seeking ways to improve employee health and safety,
with little cost or confusion to small businesses. I will also
continue to ease the tax burden on small business - including by
increasing the estate tax exemption for small businesses. In the
process, we can create greater business incentives and encourage
more small business investment.

Small-business entrepreneurship is the backbone of the American
Dream. Entrepreneurs put Americans to work. By putting the right
policies in place today, we can help protect our current prosperity
and extend it well into the 21st Century.

Entrepreneur:In your
health-care announcement last September, you mentioned that small
businesses should be able to band together to purchase health
insurance in pools. You also proposed that businesses joining these
pools should receive "special tax benefits and grants."
Please elaborate on how these purchasing pools would operate and
what sort of tax breaks small businesses would receive.

Gore: America has far too
many people without health insurance. I have laid out a detailed,
step-by-step plan to move toward our goal of universal health
insurance, starting with children. One component of that plan is to
help small business provide health care for their employees.

Small businesses typically pay higher premiums for benefits, and
administrative costs may consume as much as 40 percent of premium
dollars. To counter this excessive burden, I have proposed an
initiative to give small firms that offer health insurance a tax
credit equal to 25 percent of their contribution towards health
insurance obtained through purchasing coalitions. These health
insurance pools allow small businesses to join together in order to
purchase insurance policies at a reduced price.

Further, I would provide tax incentives for foundations to help
pay for start-up costs of purchasing coalitions and direct the
Federal Employees' Health Benefits Program to make technical
assistance available to these coalitions. Above all, this process
not only saves money, but helps move toward our goal of universal
health coverage for all Americans.

Entrepreneur:Small
businesses consistently cite the shortage of skilled labor as a
major problem. They view part of that problem as related to worker
education but lack consensus on the proper approach to rectifying
the situation. What specifically would you do to improve the
preparation of students coming out of high school? How do you
propose to improve continuing education for existing
workers?

Gore: In my opinion,
education is a top national priority requiring national leadership.
To properly train tomorrow's workforce, we must give students a
world-class education today. Consequently, I believe that parents
and government should work together to bring revolutionary
improvements to our public schools, which educate over 90 percent
of our children. Parents have a responsibility to make sure their
children study and learn. Government needs to meet its
responsibility by fixing failing schools, establishing high
standards for students and teachers, and stop wasting money on
bureaucracy and put it in smaller class sizes.

My plan would demand higher standards from our schools, teachers
and students, while investing in the tools they need to success. I
will start by creating an Education Reform Trust Fund to increase
our national investment in education by over 50 percent. The fund
will support programs to help every child in our public schools
reach high standards as our schools meet increased demand. I will
focus on early education-making high-quality, voluntary preschool
available to every 4-year-old, expanding funding for Head Start and
Early Head Start, and helping families pay for child care. My plan
will lower class sizes and ensure a qualified teacher in every
classroom by helping to recruit and train one million talented new
teachers over the next decade. I will provide tax incentives to
help states build and modernize crumbling school buildings to
assure our students can attend schools that are modern, safe, and
well equipped for learning. I will finish wiring every classroom to
the Internet and train students and teachers to use information
technology to individualize learning and bridge the digital divide.
My goal is to ensure all students are computer literate by the 8th
grade.

But investment alone is not enough. To revolutionize education,
we must also raise standards and demand strict accountability for
results. My plan treats teachers like the professionals they
are-holding them to high standards, requiring every new teacher to
be qualified in his or her subject area, and helping find faster,
fair ways to identify and improve, or when necessary remove,
failing teachers. My plan demands more from students-encouraging
states to develop high school completion exams, in order to ensure
that every student leaves school with the skills he or she needs to
succeed. And my plan demands more from schools. We cannot tolerate
failing schools. My plan will require states and school districts
to identify failing schools and put in place an aggressive plan to
turn those schools around. To encourage public school choice, my
plan would triple publicly-accountable charter schools, and require
schools to issue performance report cards to help parents select
the school best-suited to their child's needs and hold schools
accountable.

I believe we must help students afford higher education and
individuals upgrade their skills for the new economy. I have
proposed new lifelong learning "401(j) Accounts" that
would allow employers and individuals to put money away for
qualified higher education expenses, tax-free. These accounts would
let a person save for job training, education and lifelong
learning, and let those savings grow tax-free. I have also proposed
a College Opportunity Tax Cut, which would make up to $10,000 in
tuition tax-deductible in order to make college, graduate school,
and courses taken for a job more affordable.

Education is vital to ensuring that small businesses have the
highly skilled workforce they need in order to compete. However, I
recognize that, in today's tight labor markets, small
businesses are currently suffering from a shortage of highly
skilled workers. To adequately address this short-term predicament,
we need to expand the administration's proposal to increase the
number of H-1B visas to 200,000 per year, while enacting
significant new provisions to protect and prepare the U.S.
workforce and providing measures of fairness and equity for certain
immigrants already in the U.S.

Today, the challenge of education is more important than ever.
If we are to build on our prosperity and ensure that America's
small businesses have a quality, educated workforce, we must act
with precision and vigor. Only then, can we begin to help others
truly realize their fullest potential.

Entrepreneur:Even though
small businesses lack workers, they've been noticeably
reluctant to tap two pools of potential workers: the long-term
unemployed and the disabled. Is there a role for government in
encouraging small businesses to hire these individuals? What
policies, if any, would you propose to encourage small businesses
to hire them as workers?

Gore: Today, approximately
30 million working-age adults with disabilities and approximately
75 percent of people with significant disabilities are unemployed
or underemployed. I believe we must begin with an aggressive
national policy to bring adults with disabilities into gainful
employment. It is a smart, cost-saving method to help small
businesses, and it is the right thing to do.

To begin, I have launched a new Disability-to-Work Initiative to
encourage small-business public-private partnerships to hire people
with disabilities, give people with disabilities the skills and
technology they need to enter into the workforce, and share best
practices. It will also work with nonprofit technology resource
centers and businesses to make sure that youth with disabilities
are ready for work. I am also working to act on the recommendations
of the President's Task Force on the Employment of Adults with
Disabilities, to break down barriers to fuller participation in the
workplace. Just recently, I announced the creation of a new
Disability Research Institute to develop innovative new
return-to-work strategies.

The Clinton-Gore Administration came to office in 1993 promising
to "end welfare as we know it." And we have. Welfare
rolls have been cut by over half, and millions of former welfare
recipients are gainfully employed. But we should also recognize
that there are still welfare recipients who need help in finding
long-term employment. To help integrate these people into the new
economy--and to help small businesses in this tight labor market--I
want to expand the welfare-to-work tax credit to encourage
businesses to hire and retain people off the welfare roles. Small
businesses would continue to receive a tax credit equal to 35
percent of first $10,000 in wages for the first year a welfare
recipient is hired, and 50 percent of the first $10,000 in wages
for the second year. I also want to take the next step in welfare
reform-promoting responsible fatherhood. As we have asked mothers
to move from welfare to work, all sectors of society have risen to
the challenge. Now, we must help and ensure "dead-broke
dads," find an opportunity to gain employment and fulfill
their obligation to support their families.

Interview With Gore Part 2

Entrepreneur:Small
business only stands to further benefit by participating in these
new forward-looking proposals. Working together, we can continue
our prosperity and make sure no one is left behind.

Gore: Small businesses
appear to be reluctant to use the simple plan established by the
Clinton administration to increase availability of retirement
programs at smaller firms. Is this a misperception of the reception
of the program? If not, what's preventing more small businesses
from joining? Is there another approach that a Gore administration
would take?

I believe that small businesses want to provide their employees
with adequate pension programs. However, too often, the costs are
too great.

As president, I will work to implement a 50-percent tax credit
for 3 years of qualified contributions to employees' pensions.
I also think we should continue to simplify our pension system, so
that small businesses can more easily make tax-advantaged savings
programs available to their employees. We can also continue
reducing unnecessary paperwork and fostering an atmosphere of
cooperation.

In the end, less money needs to go to accountants, lawyers, and
other consultants. If we can make these minor adjustments, I am
confident that small businesses can provide better employee
pensions.

Entrepreneur:Tax cuts
and tax reform remain popular topics with business owners. What new
initiatives would you propose to reduce and simplify taxes for
business owners?

Gore: I believe in a fair
and progressive tax structure. That is why I have advocated a
common sense strategy of targeted tax cuts that spur growth and
help working families and small businesses invest in their future,
without risking our fiscal discipline and threatening our economic
prosperity.

As president, I plan to make the Research and Experimentation
Tax Credit permanent and refundable in order to increasingly
benefit small businesses. To ease the burden of the estate tax on
small-business owners, I support raising the amount of estate tax
relief for small businesses and family farms to $5 million for a
family ($2.5 million for an individual). With this relief, more
than 70 percent of small businesses, if they took full advantage of
this policy, would no longer have to pay any estate tax on their
small business, and estate taxes will dramatically fall for many
more small businesses. And my approach would also make estate taxes
fairer. For example, today, because of complicated laws, many
couples only get the $1.3 million exemption for singles rather than
the $2.6 million for which they are eligible. I would assure that
every couple gets their full deduction. I am also committed to
working to find other ways to assure that the estate tax is fair
and simple for families. Finally, I propose to expand the current
estate and capital gains tax deductions for landowners that
transfer properties near cities, parks, or wilderness areas to
conservation uses.

Entrepreneur:You've
won praise for your efforts to restructure government and reduce
paperwork for businesses. Yet, earlier this year, OSHA issued a
guidance letter on ergonomic standards for telecommuters to a small
company in texas that resulted in a firestorm of protest and caused
the secretary of labor to rescind the letter. The ergonomic
standards are still under review. What stance would a Gore
administration take on ergonomics for telecommuters?

Gore: I believe that
cooperation is far better than burdensome regulation. Measures that
protect workers health and safety and the environment should not be
an impediment to economic prosperity; they should be a building
block to improve our overall quality of life. Over the past eight
years, this new philosophy has worked well for small business.

Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, the incidence of
workplace injuries has fallen to its lowest level in history. Our
goal has been to make needed regulations as easy to understand and
comply with as possible. For example, OSHA has posted on its
Internet website new and innovative advisory software to help small
businesses understand how to comply with OSHA regulations at
practically no cost. The Administration has reinvented OSHA to
focus on helping those businesses interested in complying to do so,
and directed enforcement only toward those businesses that have
demonstrated an unwillingness to comply. As President, I will
encourage OSHA to continue reviewing its ergonomics safety and
health rules, in order to minimize the burden on small
business.

Under a Gore Administration, OSHA will continue to seek ways to
improve employee health and safety with little cost or confusion to
small businesses.

Interview With Bush Part 1

Entrepreneur:Governor,
you've joined Vice President Gore in a call for allowing small
business to join associated health plans, but the vice president
has gone further in proposing tax benefits for companies joining
these plans. Do you think that's a good idea? Why or why
not?

George W. Bush: Tax benefits
are a great way to make health insurance more affordable to
entrepreneurs and employees of small business. I have proposed
several affordable health-care options that allow the individual,
and not the government, to find the most suitable health insurance
plan. My health-care tax credit provides a 90 percent tax credit,
up to $2,000 annually for the cost of a family's insurance
compared to Vice President Gore's plan to provide a 25 percent
tax credit for the cost of a displaced worker's insurance. As
you noted, I support small business pooling to purchase health-care
plans for their employees. I also favor the immediate 100 percent
tax deductibility of insurance costs for the self-employed and the
expansion of Medical Savings Accounts, a proven means to help the
uninsured.

Entrepreneur:Small
businesses are much less likely than big businesses to offer a
retirement plan. One solution you've proposed is to allow
individuals to use a portion of their payroll taxes to fund a
retirement account. What, if any, role would small business play in
contributing to their employees' use of these accounts under
your plan? Are there other approaches you would pursue to increase
small business participation in these retirement plans?

Bush: Under my plan to save
Social Security, employers would continue to match employee
contributions just as they do under the current system. However, I
would allow Americans to invest a small portion of their Social
Security taxes into the stock market. Current and near retirees
would be guaranteed their promised benefits. If Social Security
were to remain solvent under the current system (it is expected to
go broke in 2037), it would offer only a 2 percent real return to
new workers, compared to a 4 percent return with government
guaranteed inflation indexed bonds and a seven percent average real
return in stocks.

The federal tax on savings can be as high as 70 percent (40
percent income tax and 55 percent death tax). I have proposed
simplifying and reducing our tax code from the current rates of 15,
28, 33, 36 and 39.6 percent to four rates of 10, 15, 25, and 31
percent, allowing Americans to save more of their earnings for
retirement. My tax relief plan also eliminates the death tax, a
burden on entrepreneurs and small-business workers who wish to keep
their business within their families. Ninety percent of businesses
that fail after the first generation cite the death tax as a factor
for their demise.

As you know, research and development plays an important part in
the development of new ideas. Another important part of my tax
relief plan is the permanent extension of the research and
development tax credit.

Entrepreneur:You've
attempted to pass changes to the franchise tax in Texas that
eliminate the different treatment of classes of business (i.e. sole
proprietor vs. incorporated business). These proposals have been
perceived as equalizing the difference between small and large
businesses. Should entrepreneurs expect that a Bush administration
would try to equalize the federal government's treatment of
small and large business? Can you site specific areas where such
discrepancies exist at the federal level?

Bush: I believe that lower
taxes promote economic growth and are our best insurance policy
against an economic downturn. I have proposed numerous tax cuts
that will benefit individuals and small businesses, including
lowering the marginal tax rates for all workers and entrepreneurs,
and making the R&D tax credit permanent. I realize the
important role that small businesses play in our economy and will
promote policies to help them grow and prosper.

Entrepreneur:You've
developed a reputation for working with legislators in Texas--and
for believing that neither you nor your staff have all the answers
to a particular problem. Would a Bush administration be less likely
to propose solutions to problems in the future? Or would it raise
issues and then develop solutions after considerable
debate?

Bush: I am proud of the fact
that I been able to work with members of both parties of the Texas
legislature, and I will bring this spirit of bi-partisanship to
Washington. I have also demonstrated leadership in a number of
policy initiatives during the course of this campaign. These
include my plans to save and strengthen Social Security and
preserve and protect Medicare, including offering prescription drug
coverage for seniors. Both of these programs were once thought of
as "the third rail of American politics." I have proposed
a responsible tax cut that increases the disposable income of all
Americans. And of particular importance to future entrepreneurs, I
strongly support education reform, where we closely measure student
performance and increase accountability.

Interview With Bush Part 2

Entrepreneur:What would
be your litmus test to determine whether a proposed regulation from
you administration should be issued?

Bush: I strongly oppose any
regulations that place an undue burden on small businesses and
entrepreneurs. The government must be careful not to stifle
innovation or pass unnecessary bureaucratic costs that are
inevitably passed onto the consumer. My administration will
carefully review all proposed regulations to determine its
effectiveness or potential harm to small businesses and
entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur:One of the
top concerns of small business is to increase the number of
qualified workers. Your campaign has discussed education primarily
in terms of improving teaching for the young. What initiatives
would you propose to improve continuing education and worker
retraining?

Bush: Education will be my
highest priority as president. Worker retraining is an important
part of that goal. I have proposed allowing individuals to place up
to $5,000 a year, 10 times the current amount, into tax free
education savings accounts. These accounts can be used towards any
level of education, including worker retraining, college or
graduate work.

Entrepreneur:Even though
small businesses lack workers, they've been noticeably
reluctant to tap two pools of potential workers: the long-term
unemployed and the disabled. Is there a role for government in
encouraging small businesses to hire these individuals? What
policies, if any, would you propose to encourage small businesses
to hire them as workers?

Bush: Our society, and our
government, must make every effort to enable people with
disabilities to lead independent and productive lives. To help
Americans with disabilities freely pursue the American dream, I
have proposed the New Freedom Initiative. The New Freedom
Initiative encourages businesses to hire Americans with
disabilities by taking three important steps. First, I will triple
federal funding in assistive technology and dramatically improve
access to it. Second, I will provide $20 million to help disabled
Americans work from home and make the providing of a home office by
a company a tax-free fringe benefit. Third, I am committed to
signing an Executive Order to allow Americans with disabilities to
maintain their health benefits when they return to work.